Johnstown, PA
Hiram Swank came from Davidsville to Johnstown in 1854 and started a pottery business. Two years afterwards, he was joined by his brother Jacob. In 1862 the firm purchased the Charley Frank hardware business which was thereafter conducted under the firm name of J. & H. Swank and continued that store as a part of the joint property until 1887, when the partnership was dissolved– Jacob Swank taking over the mercantile business, while Hiram retained the pottery branch. Later, Newton Swank, a son to Jacob, became a partner and the firm name changed to that of J. Swank & Son.
In 1886 Mr. W. E. Parke was admitted to the firm, the name being changed from J. Swank & Son to J. Swank, Son & Company, which continued until time of flood, 1889.
The Great Johnstown Flood, also known as the Johnstown Flood of 1889, was a disaster that occurred on May 31, 1889, when the South Fork Dam in Pennsylvania failed after heavy rains. Over 2,200 people died including Jacob Swank, his wife, and their two youngest children. The Swank family lost over 25 relatives in the flood. After the flood, the business interests were looked after by the rest of Jacob’s sons, who for some time had been associated with the business. The business was renamed the Swank Hardware Company of Johnstown by the next year. The day following the great disaster, the present members of the firm began the work of reconstruction and drove the first nail in the rebuilding of Johnstown; they conducted business that day, Saturday June 1, 1889, and in the following days secured quite a creditable stock of new goods. This business was begun in a small temporary structure which they occupied for several weeks, at the expiration of which time they erected on the site of Greer’s furniture store a building in which they then conducted business for several years. They then erected a frame building at the corner of Main and Bedford street, which they occupied until 1898, when it was replaced with a five-story brick building, which burned down March 28, 1906, wherein the firm lost heavily. They then built a modern six-story building, of reinforced concrete construction, which will combine stores and warehouses over five acres of floor space devoted to the hardware and vehicle departments, with house furnishing department. When the new organization was affected, June, 1898, they were associated under a partnership agreement until 1902, which included the three brothers–Morrell, Harry and George W.–and the brother-in-law, Charles R. Glock. In 1901, owing to the increased business, they incorporated under the firm name of Swank Hardware Company, with a, capital of $250,000, with Harry Swank as president, Charles M. Glock as vice-president and manager, George M. Swank as treasurer and Morrell Swank as secretary.
In 1902 the Bantley Hardware concern was purchased and stock changed to house furnishings, (The Daily American newspaper, March 6, 2013 states there was a sale but all other accounts by Bantley or Bantly, says they’ve owned the business continuously for over 150 years. Oddly enough, the name has been spelled both as Bantly and Bantley throughout its history).
In 1896 Newton B. Swank withdrew from the firm and assumed the implement and vehicle end of the business, which he conducted independently until 1906, when the consolidation of N. B. Swank and Swank’s house furnishing department was effected, making it by far the largest mercantile concern between Pittsburg and Philadelphia and in all western Pennsylvania. Almost since the business was founded, its proprietors have given attention to the wholesale trade, but within the last several years the jobbing trade has become first in importance in the company’s operations. Several traveling salesmen are now on the road, and the region covered by them includes all the territory of which Johnstown is the business center and even extends into the state of Maryland. ——Much of this information above, some which I was unable to cross-check anywhere else, was found in an excerpt by Storey, Henry Wilson; History Of Cambria County, Pennsylvania (New York, LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1907)
In 1927 Swank’s acquired PJ Cover & Son Hardware in Meyersdale and made it a subsidiary but kept the PJ name on the store. The Johnstown Swank store survived St. Patrick’s Day flood of 1936 when the waters rose over 8 feet. But losses were so great that they reorganized only by declaring bankruptcy. No date could be found about the closure of the Johnstown store. Ironically, if they had still been open in 1977, they would’ve suffered yet again through a great flood in Johnstown. The Meyersdale store closed in 1966.
